Lessie

Sharing is caring, so share the design!

In the spirit of this (great) article, I present thee a list of a few of my wildest game design snippets, which are far from complete, but hopefully clear enough to stir up a couple of ideas in someone else’s mind. I hope you guys can provide me with some insight as to what could go right and wrong with each of these ideas, and please keep in mind that as a programmer I tend to think a lot more about game mechanics than anything else and that none of these ideas is entirely original (everything is a remix anyway). On to the list!

A manual breathing and/or blinking system, where keys must be pressed and held down to blink and breathe in, respectively. Yes I know this sounds like all sorts of injury for the players, that is why the game should control it automatically, but allow the player to do it themselves. Failing to do so properly could bring all kinds of negative effects, like blurred vision, inability to run, blindness and fainting. This could be used on a horror game, with breathing and blinking going out of control as the player experiences disturbing events (look at it as another take on Amnesia’s sanity system), therefore allowing the player the opportunity to keep themselves calm in real life so that they can do the same to their character. Something could be done with the blinking system, like enemies that only move when you’re not looking at them, much like SCP: Containment Breach;
A cooperative first person horror/puzzle game. Players with barely any offensive abilities must cooperate to find ways of escaping a facility filled with hostile creatures. Think of Portal meets Amnesia, but multiplayer. Possibility of players sacrificing themselves to attract the hostiles so the team can succeed, like in L4D;
A cooperative 3D beat ‘em up. Like Devil May Cry or God of War, but cooperative multiplayer (kind of reminds me of Grief Syndrome, but 3D, while playing the unofficial online mode). Game could generate objectives randomly and give them to the players. Those can include wiping out monsters in a set time, reaching a location or holding off a boss for some time. No RPG elements included, ideally.

For now, those are the ideas I am not too embarassed to present here. Any thoughts, opinions or insights? Anyone?

P.S.: Remember, this is a list of games I would like to develop someday, not a list of never-seen-before games.

P.S.2: If you’re thinking of taking any one of these ideas and develop it yourself, feel free to do so, but please consider including Matilhabits in the development process. We have a lot to offer!